Toy



1. M. cmws.

TOY. I

APPLICATION FILED 111N513, I921.

Patented Aug. 1, 1922,1-

( ZSHEETS-SHEETI $5 3 A I I IN VENTO 73:

IRENE N. CHILDS L I. M. CHILDS.

TOY.

APPLICATION FILED 1UNE13, 1921.

Patented Aug. 1, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR:

IRENE M. CH1 1.11s,

ONE I-IALF, TO. ELLA M.

TOY.

: Application filed June 13,

T 0' all to from it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRENE M. 'CHILDS, a

citizen of the United States, and residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Toy, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devicesused by children as'well as'by adults for passing time.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a device in which a player may, by

some skill, bring a traveling objectto a certain goal. I

Another'object is to provide such'a device withinterfering means, eventually to be controlled by another player, to prevent the first traveling member or object from reaching its goal, though the first'player may have properly operated the ob-jec j Another objectis to provide such a device with helping ineans eventually to be controlled by another player, to prevent the interfering means from reaching its interfer ing position and thereby helping the first traveling member to reach its proper goal.

Another object is to provide side goals into which the first traveling member may be brought bythe interferingmeans.

Otherobject-s will appear from the following description and appended claims as well as from the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a simple construction embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 isa perspective'view of a slightly modified and simplified device.

Fig. 3 is a vertical midsectional view of a slightly modified formof the device.

Fig. 4 is a detail longitudinal midsectional view of an operating gun.

Fig. 5 is a vertical midsectional view of sli 'htly modified form of the device, the interfering members being guided through closed tubes terminating at an advanced point in the path of the travelingmeniber;

Fig/6 is a' vertical midsectional view of a slightly modified form of the device, the inclined face being provided with grooves to guide the main hall in certain direct-ions.

Fig. 7 is a grooved device similar to the illustration in Fig. 6, the bo-ttomof thegoaI for the mainball being provided with means Specification of Letters Patent.

point 20'to the point 18 along Patented Aug.1,-1922. 19 21. Serial No. 477,156.

to be operated by-the interfering ball to bringthe bottomin alignment with the bottomof the main grooves.-

Fig. 8 is a detail fragmentary illustration of a trap door to be opened by the interfering ball.

'Fig. 9 is a detail fragmentary illustration of tubes provided with interfering curves and pockets. I i

I In Fig. 1, a. base'plate 10 is provided with a groove 11, in which a ball 12 may travel from the 13 may more properly be called the starting point and the point 14 may more properly be called the goal. Another groove is provided so as to cross the as indicated at 16 and '17, the groove 15 terminatingat a separate and independent goal 18. A ball 19 may travel from the the groove 15. Another groove 21 is provided so as to cross the groove 15, as indicated at 22. A ball 23 may, travel from the point'24 to the point 25.

first groove 11,

may more properly be called a helping ball 'or member. y I

- The ball 12 may normally easily reach the goal 14. The interfering ball or member 19 is operated to reach one of the crossings or intersections 16 or 17 to throw the ball 12 out of the groove 11. With a reasonable amount of skill'the member 19 can be operated to eventually causethe member 12 to pass ahead of the member 19 into the goal 18. The ball or -member23 can, with a reasonable amount of skill, be operated to throw the member 19 out of the groove 15, eventually into the goal 25. The helping member 23 helps in this manner the member 12 to reach its goal at 14, since the interfering member 19 is prevented from reaching any of the intersections of the groove 15 with eventually prevent the interfering member 27 from-passing into the path ofthe traveling member 12, thereby helping the traveling member to reach its goal; Any other couple, eventually to. .talrethe coupleto a Cii 32 or 83, when passed jail at'18; and a second friend helpingto prevent the. constable from reaching the couple before they can reach thechurch,

Other arrangements and instructions may easily be furnished with as will easily such a toy or be understood, without de parting from the principle of the invention. ,A slightly modified form, en'ibodying the same principleyis illustrated in Fig. 2, instead of the curved groove 11 there is the straight groove 30, so thata travelling membermay be operated to, reach the-goal 31;

the interfering members may bra-operated to stop-tl-ie'traveling'memberat the points along the grooves 34 and 35; and, the helping members may be operated along the grooves 36 and 37 to stop the interferingmembers at the points .38 and 39. I I v Instead of open channels or grooves, tubes .may as; well be the principle open grooves,

used without departing from of the invention.1 While in the operation of, one party may easily be watched by the "opposing party to operate the interfering member ac- I cordingly, eventually by throwing the inter-,

ber being indicated city to circle several times its goal at 41, or' it slowly that the goal is cling or spiralmovemcnt; provided intherbottom of; the hollowed base If the traveling member traveling member;

is operated on fering member-improperly against the main in closed channels or tubes, skill aloneis the main factor, the interfering' member is to be operated with just the proper velocity to reach an intersection. tobring or give thedesired-results.

In Fig. 3, another, slightly modified form is illustrated. An inclined surface is provided for the main travelingmember, preferably inform of a hoppereshaped or conical receptacle. The main traveling member the face orsurface of this receptacle or hollowed base 40 to. wind its way to reach the goal 41, the travelingmemat 42, and ,the ,path eventually taken by lines. The-traveling member-inay in this manner be given an exceedingly high velobefore reaching may.

reached. in one cir- -A losing goal is as indicated at 44. 1

grooves to finally reach its the traveling member is indicated at 43 with reference to thedotted be operated sois not operated properly, it passes the proper or winning goal at 41 and drops into the losing goal at 44.- A starting tube 45 is provided with a starting gun 46, by which the traveling member may receive any desired velocity. A funnel 47 is provided to allow the inserting of the traveling member into the starting tube near the gun. A chan: nel 48 is provided so that an" interfering member can be operated to drop into the hollowed base 40 at a pointnear the path of the traveling member on the: inclinedsurface of the base. A cross tube or channel 49 is provided so that a helping member may be operatedto stop the interferingmember on the channel 48.

in Fig. 4. The starting tube 45 is provided The starting gun is illustrated; in detail with a closed end 50, so that aspring 51 can be inserted between the end-plate 50 and a plunger 52. The plunger is connected to the rod 53, which is shouldered as indicated at-54 and provided with a handle as indicated at 55. hen -the plunger 52 is drawnback against the tension of the spring 51, a traveling member can be dropped through the funnel 47 into the starting tube 45 infront of the plunger, so that, on releasing of the handle 55, the plunger 52 and therewith the inserted traveling member is forced to move at a suitable or desiredvelocity in the tube 45. Thisstarting velocity, received from the plunger and spring, is used to operate the traveling member at desired velocities, orv in a desired manner over face of the hollowed base 40.

A slightly modified form is illustrated in Fi 5, the tube 56 for the interfering member being connected to the base40 at a point near the path of the main traveling member close to the'goal of the traveling member, so that the interfering memberrmust not be operated until the main traveling member has nearly reached its goal, and eventually can only be reached at one certain point bythe interfering member,

- Guiding grooves 57 .are provided in the slightly modified formillustrated in Fig. 6, so that the main traveling member can be dropped'on the base to be guided alongthe proper goal if not interfered with.

The groovesmay,'of course, be arranged closer than illustrated in Figs. 6 and'Z, since a ball willeasily follow the path of grooves for a long distance. In Fig. 7, the grooves 58 are illustrated in a closer relation, but the -,construction as a whole is the same as the hollowed-base40 in Fig. 6. A" slight modification of the interfering means ,;is,- however, embodied'in this illustration. The tube 56 for the interfering member terminates the inclined sur- In Fig. 8 is an illustration of a slightly modified gate, the gate forming in this case a trap door to be opened by the interfering member to prevent the traveling member from continuing in its regular path in the grooves of the hollowed base. The interfering member, dropping into the bent-end 57 of the tube 56, falls upon the lever 60, lifting the lever 61 of the trap-door 62,

thereby opening the trap-door. This trapdoor can be usedin connection with any of the forms illustrated in Figs. 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and even 2, as will easily be understood.

Traps, impediments, and obstacles are also provided for the tubes, as illustrated in detail in Fig. 9. The tube 63 is provided with a trap or curved portion at 64:, so that a ball, forced through the tube at a slow rate may stop within this portion 64 and thereby fail to reach its proper goal or interfering point. On the other hand, on being forced through the tube at an exceeding rate of speed, the ball may pass into the extension trap, indicated at 65, thereby passing its normal goal or interfering point From the above it will easily be understood that all the several illustrations relate to the same principle, namely to provide a path for a traveling member to reach a predetermined goal when operated with asuitable amount of skill, having interfering means provided to prevent the first member from reaching its goal when the interfering member is operated with a suitable amount of skill, and having helping means to prevent the interfering means from stopping the traveling member in its regular path.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a toy, in combination with traveling members, a base member forming guiding means for the said traveling members, a certain portion of the guiding means being of a continuous form terminating in a certain goal, another portion of the guiding means intersecting the first-named portion at a point before the goal, and eXtend-' ing to a point distant and separate from the first-named portion and goal, and another portion of the guiding means intersecting the second-named portion at a point before the intersection of the first two porthe tions and extending to a point distinct from the other portions.

In a toy, in combination with traveling members, a base member having guiding means, a certain portion of the guiding means being of a continuous form terminating in a certain goal, another portion of the guiding means intersecting the firstnamed portion at a point before the goal and extending to a point distant and sep arate from the first-named portion and goal and another portion of the guiding means intersecting the second-named portion at a point before the intersection of the first two portions, and extending to a point distinct from the other portions, the said traveling members to be operated in the guiding means as interfering and helping members to one continuously traveling member.

8. In a toy, a base member having guiding means, a certain portion of the guiding means being of a continuous form terminating in a certain goal, another portion of the guiding means intersecting the firstnamcd portion at a point before the goal, and extending to a point distant and sep arate from the first-named portion and goal, another portion of the guiding means intersecting the second-named portion before the intersection of the first two portions,

and extending to a point distinct from the other portions, and traveling members adapted to be moved in the said guiding means as interfering and helping members to one continuously operating traveling member.

4. In a toy, traveling members, abase member forming guiding means for one of traveling members, other guiding means in operative relation to the guiding means in the base member having an independent course and traversing the firstnamed guiding means so that a second traveling member may be operated to halt the first-operated traveling member, and other guiding means in operative relation to the guiding means for the second traveling member but normally in no operative relation to the guiding means for the firstnamed traveling member having an independent course and traversing the secondnamed guiding means adapted to serve a O. H. KRUEZER, Jnssm A. MANooK, 

